While demonstrating an impressive surge in combat power currently in the Middle East, the U.S. Navy is too small to maintain a wartime footing for this long without serious ramifications for men & materiel, both now and in the near future. The not-fully-open-yet-not-quite-closed Strait of Hormuz is showcasing systemic problems that have long plagued the Navy. Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Daryl Caudle recently told Congress that “providing escort services through a contested strait will…exceed the capacity of the Navy to do that effectively.” The CNO’s candor is welcome as the sea service seems to make it all work, all the time so it can mask (at least temporarily) deep structural weaknesses. America’s Navy is too important to national security and national economic interests to let it atrophy so deeply, so quickly.